Apprentice star Lord Sugar waded into the London mayoral battle by urging people not to vote for Ken Livingstone.The Labour peer said that Londoners should ignore the backing given to Ken Livingstone by Ed Miliband and desert him at the ballot box.He took to Twitter where he said: 'I don’t care if Ed Miliband is backing Livingstone . I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections'The Labour peer - whose catchphrase is 'You’re fired' - defied leader Ed Miliband by telling his 1.8 million followers on Twitter not to back the party’s official candidate. URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132131/Lord-Sugar-slams-Ken-Livingstone-urges-Londoners-NOT-vote-Labour-candidate.html - 155KB - 19 Apr 2012
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Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson's first live debate descended into a furious bust-up as the pair clashed over their tax arrangements ahead of next month’s London mayoral elections.Mr Livingstone has come under attack in recent weeks over claims that he was paid via a company so he was liable only for 20 per cent corporation tax rather than the higher rate of income tax.Mr Livingstone accused the mayor of having 'the same arrangements' for dealing with his media earnings - insisting he had used a company called Finland Station to do so.But Mr Johnson denied that he had ever used a company to avoid tax, calling Mr Livingstone 'a bare faced liar'.During the debate, Mr Johnson insisted: 'I pay income tax. I'm proud of it.'I think it's pretty disgraceful to be attacked by Ken Livingstone - someone who has deliberately set up a tax dodging maneuver and then denounced anyone else who did so, which does not include me.'But the pair continued to row even after the show had finished when a furious Mr Johnson swore at his Labour opponent.Travelling up to the roof terrace to be photographed, the Mayor shouted at Mr Livingstone 'it’s all f****** lies, it’s all f****** lies'.Other reports claim a red faced Johnson went 'nose to nose' with Livingstone as they stood in the lift and repeatedly told him: 'You are a f****** liar'. URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2124509/Boris-Johnson-calls-Ken-Livingstone-liar-tax-affairs.html - 151KB - 03 Apr 2012
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Ken Livingstone spent tens of thousands of pounds of public money as London Mayor on first class air travel, luxury hotels, fine wines and even a £260 pair of shoes.Documents show that among a string of expenses claims he used a special Mayor’s credit card to pay for a £282 dinner with Ed Balls, then a Labour Minister, at a top London restaurant. Afterwards he dipped into public funds to pay for his £30 taxi home.Mr Livingstone spent £135.94 on a desk lamp, £41.25 on a shirt, £42 for an ‘emergency passport’, and £23.87 on water at a Paris hotel overlooking the Eiffel Tower.He bought fine wines from upmarket supplier Laithwaites, including four cases of Rioja Luis Canas Reserva 2001 (£475); two cases of Corneau Cyllene Pouilly Fumé 2005 (£199); three cases of Rovalley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 (£299); and six half bottles of Foudre No 8 Cognac (£95). One of his Laithwaites wine sprees cost £2,884. URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123395/How-man-people-Ken-enjoyed-lifestyle-jet-setting-executive--taxpayer.html - 144KB - 01 Apr 2012
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Ken Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for the London mayoralty, faces an HM Revenue and Customs investigation after admitting that he has set some of his election expenses against tax, saving thousands of pounds on his personal tax bill. Mr Livingstone, who has called tax avoiders “rich b******s” who should “not be allowed to vote,” has struggled to fend off charges of hypocrisy after The Sunday Telegraph revealed that he has avoided at least £50,000 in tax by channelling his earnings through a personal company, Silveta Ltd and paying corporation tax at 20 or 21 per cent rather than income tax at up to 50 per cent. URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/london-mayor-election/9150576/Inquiry-as-Ken-Livingstone-saves-thousands-in-tax-bill.html - 85KB - 18 Mar 2012
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Ken Livingstone today admitted the party political broadcast that made him burst into tears featured Labour activists hired by an ad agency, reading a script he had already heard.The veteran politician's election team say the film made 'on behalf of ordinary Londoners' had used 28 of his supporters who were all paid expenses.Despite all this he had wept anyway at its premiere on Tuesday because he was 'only human', his spokesman said.At the time he told journalists the YouTube film was 'a real tear-jerker' and the people on screen represented 'hundreds of thousands of Londoners who desperately want a Mayor who is going to make their life easier in this city.'Revealing how the three-minute film was made, Labour said top ad agency BETC had hired people from the street who were given lines to follow.A spokesman said: 'We have a script. They film it. They are all Londoners. They are all Labour supporters. They are saying things they believe.' URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129344/Ordinary-Londoners-moved-Ken-Livingstone-tears-hired-ad-agency.html - 155KB - 13 Apr 2012
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After last night's Sky News debate the Boris campaign have produced a list of the false claims made by Ken Livingstone during the one hour debate: False claim 1: London has the worst air quality in Europe. Truth: According to... URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2012/04/livingstones-false-claims-on-sky-news-debate.html - 57KB - 20 Apr 2012
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Ken Livingstone, who has attacked tax avoiders as “rich bastards” who should “not be allowed to vote”, has avoided at least £50,000 in tax by having himself paid through a personal company. URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/london-mayor-election/9105977/Ken-Livingstone-uses-loophole-to-save-50000-in-tax.html - 88KB - 26 Feb 2012
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Ken Livingstone has produced a paper on housing policy as part of his campaign to be elected Mayor of London. Much of it is the familiar rant that reads like the Dave Spart parody in Private Eye. ("The Thatcher-Reagan neo-liberal... URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2010/07/red-kens-dodgy-housing-dossier.html - 89KB - 27 Jul 2010
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A new report released today by the Back Boris campaign reveals the impact every family in London will face if Ken Livingstone was to win this May's mayoral election - £348 in council tax increases, and an increase in the Congestion Charge.The report, entitled "Can't Afford Ken", notes that Livingstone has made 24 spending promises that cost more money than is in the budget. These spending commitments have been made either in public speeches or in documents after he was selected as Labour’s candidate. They include a transport fare cut, a pledge to replace the withdrawn EMA scheme, a London-wide lettings agency, an "Air Quality Improvement Fund", a "Cinema Discount Card" for young people, and, bizarrely, a party in Trafalgar Square just for the Portuguese-speaking diaspora. URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/leftwatch/2012/04/ken-livingstones-spending-plans-would-cost-every-london-council-tax-payer-348.html - 44KB - 13 Apr 2012
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Ken Livingstone has been grossly hypocritical over tax avoidance and is under investigation to see if he has broken the rules. He says journalists haven't asked his accountant any questions about it but he hasn't released his accountant's name.But I think a story broken by the Mail on Sunday this morning into his expense claims when Mayor of London from 2000 to 2008 represents a far worse scandal. URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2012/04/ken-livingstone-charged-londoners-260-for-shoes-via-mayors-credit-card.html - 56KB - 01 Apr 2012
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Over the past week scarcely a day has gone by without an impassioned attack on Ken Livingstone by a Labour supporter. Nick Cohen in The Observer writes:I will vote for Labour assembly members, then Green, Lib Dem or something equally silly for mayor, and offer no second preference. If Johnson wins by one vote, I'll say that was Labour's fault for putting forward Livingstone, not mine. We own the politicians. They don't own us.Cohen feels that Livingstone "is a hypocrite worthy of the pen of a Swift or Dickens." Livingstone "is now the champion of the suffering 99% and enemy of the despised 1%." URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2012/03/labour-supporter-turn-on-livingstone.html - 61KB - 10 Mar 2012
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Ken Livingstone was under fresh pressure over his alleged tax avoidance after he was forced to admit using his private company to make a sizable political donation.Mr Livingstone had previously claimed to have personally made a donation to the Labour Party of £19,202 in December for “staff costs” during his election campaign.But he has now confirmed to the electoral commission that the donation came from his private company Silveta Ltd, through which he allegedly avoided at least £50,000 in tax by benefiting from corporation tax at 20 or 21 per cent rather than paying income tax at up to 50 per cent on all of his earnings.It was today claimed the Labour candidate broke HM Revenue and Customs rules by offsetting the £19,202 donation made through Silveta against tax. URL: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/mayor/ken-livingstone-accused-of-breaking-tax-rules-over-labour-donation-7603465.html - 131KB - 09 Apr 2012
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Boris Johnson is loved by ConHome readers. In our end-year readers' survey he came second only to Margaret Thatcher as the politician that members felt, ideologically, closest to. This is understandable given his views on Europe, tax and crime but Boris is no cardboard cut-out Tory. His support for an immigration amnesty and a much higher minimum wage are examples of his very independent worldview. Nonetheless he topped a slightly frivolous poll we ran asking who members would vote for if there was a party leadership race tomorrow. Boris Johnson won 34% against William Hague's 26%. Gove won 18%, Osborne 13%, Jeremy Hunt 5% and Theresa May 3%.Just before Christmas the London Evening Standard was leaked a Labour tactics document which set out the strategy of painting Boris Johnson as a "true blue" Tory. Labour literature will portray Boris as "a Conservative mayor who meets bankers more than police; describes his £250,000-a-year second salary as 'chicken feed' but does not hesitate to raise fares". Those themes were repeated in Livingstone's Guardian piece.Boris has a long list of achievements and a reputation for independence. His optimism is also a huge contrast with Ken Livingstone's snarling manner. URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2012/01/ken-livingstone-begins-his-kick-cameron-oust-boris-campaign.html - 58KB - 05 Jan 2012
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Last week Boris Johnson issued a Progress Report detailing which of his 108 manifesto pledges from 2008 had been kept. Not all of them have yet. But 91% of them have been achieved.Ken Livingstone was invited to undertake an equivalent assessment of his eight years as Mayor. He has declined to do so. But helpfully five Conservative MPs have done it for him, A thorough analysis finds that Livingstone kept fewer than half his promises.The 74-page, 23,021 word forensic audit sets out in detail how out of the 262 promises he made he broke 69 of them and failed to deliver on 73 of them – a combined rate of 54%. URL: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2012/03/livingstones-broken-promises-audited.html - 58KB - 19 Mar 2012
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Ken Livingstone faced embarrassing revelations about his financial dealings last night over money he earned through a 'tax loophole' company that was channelled into a controversial charity headed by Cherie Blair.Mr Livingstone, Labour's candidate to be London Mayor, was accused of hypocrisy for paying earnings from speeches and radio appearances into a firm, Silveta Ltd, which potentially allows him to avoid £50,000 in tax – despite previously attacking tax avoiders as 'rich b******s' who 'don't get it'.In addition, while he was serving as Mayor between 2000 and 2008, thousands of pounds paid for media appearances were channelled into another firm, Localaction Ltd. URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113294/Livingstone-faces-embarrassing-revelations-tax-loophole-cash-channelled-Cherie-Blairs-controversial-charity.html - 150KB - 11 Mar 2012
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